Stories about Ohio's people, places, and events inspired by the Manuscripts Collections of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Teddy and Taft Campaigning in Ohio

This photograph was taken in Fremont, Ohio in May 1912 while William Howard Taft was standing on the Sandusky County Courthouse steps campaigning for President.

Known as a bellwether state, Ohio
has been the scene of numerous political showdowns in the race for the
presidency. Perhaps none excited residents more than the primary campaign of
1912. Fighting for his political life, President William Howard Taft set out
on a week long campaign tour through his native state to battle his one-time
friend and mentor ex-president Teddy Roosevelt. It was the first time a
sitting president had campaigned during the primaries. Both men needed Ohio’s
delegates to win the Republican Party’s nomination at the upcoming
convention.

\This photograph is of Teddy Roosevelt campaigning in Fremont, Ohio, for Vice President twelve years earlier. The date was October, 18, 1900. Beside him is T. P. Dewey of Clyde, Ohio, who was a candidate for Congress. This photograph was donated by Thomas F. Dewey, Jr. in 1991.

As Taft’s train steamed into Ohio on the 13th of
May, Roosevelt was only hours behind. Thrilled at the prospect of so much
attention, Ohioans along the campaign route quickly constructed makeshift
speaker platforms, flew flags, decorated their homes and businesses, and
organized bands and parades. With factories and schools closed, excitement
reigned as thousands waited for the chance to see President Taft and the
dynamic Teddy Roosevelt.

Roosevelt was on the attack from the moment the
"Teddy Special" rolled across the state line, but he resisted
calling the Ohio-born president a "fathead" as he had earlier in
the campaign. When the platform collapsed just before his arrival in Marion,
Ohio, Roosevelt climbed atop a freight car to speak to cheering crowds. In
Sandusky, Ackley’s Band greeted Roosevelt’s train at the foot of the Columbus
Avenue dock. Women and children, who made up more than half of the crowd,
scrambled to catch "Teddy buttons" and candy tossed from the train.

At several stops, Taft’s train pulled away while he was in
mid-sentence. At the State Theater in Sandusky, the president literally
begged his fellow Ohioans for their votes. After 15 more speeches, the
president grew so hoarse that he could barely utter a word. But Taft struggled
on, traveling more than 3,000 miles before ending his campaign a day before
the election.

As the returns rolled in, it quickly became apparent that
Taft had lost the battle. Ohioans had turned their backs on their native son,
presenting a grateful Roosevelt with a landslide victory. But in the end,
Taft controlled Ohio’s state convention and that of nearly every other state,
giving him enough delegates to win the Republican nomination. Furious at
Republican Party bosses, Roosevelt bolted the party and made an unsuccessful
bid for the presidency as an independent on the Bull Moose ticket.